Montgomery Clift
by Todd Richmond
365Gay.com Features Editor

Although many actors and actresses go to Hollywood seeking stardom, the roles were reversed in the beginning for Montgomery Clift. Hollywood went after him in search of a new star. Clift had already proven his talents on Broadway and Hollywood producers and directors were constantly pursuing him to star in almost any film, and in 1946, he conceded to their efforts. After 12 years of turning down every script film directors proposed to him, Clift finally found one script too intriguing to reject, a western co-starring John Wayne titled Red River. The move from Broadway to Hollywood did not alter his dedication and desire for acting, but Clift’s life was soon filled with new and exotic experiences.

Montgomery Clift was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, a successful Wall Street stockbroker, was always in New York on business so his mother filled both parental roles. She would take Monty, his twin sister Roberta, and his older brother Brooks on long trips to Europe or spend time at their second home in Bermuda. Private tutors traveled with the family and taught Monty and his siblings. When Wall Street crashed, the Clift’s had to accept a different lifestyle and moved to a modest home in Sarasota, Florida when Monty was 13. He joined a local youth theatrical club there and tried acting for the first time. He was very committed to his work and his mother realized how natural he looked on stage. She started pushing Monty towards an acting career. His family moved to Sharon, Massachusetts where he auditioned for a part in the Broadway play, Fly Away Home. Monty was cast and the play ran for two seasons. His family moved to Manhattan when Monty secured another lead in the play Dame Nature. His lead in Dame Nature earned him Broadway star status, and he was only 17.

Over the next three years, Clift would take the lead in several Broadway plays like: There Shall Be No Night, The Skin of Our Teeth, Our Town, and Foxhole in the Parlor. During this time, members of the film industry continually tried to coax Monty to Hollywood. He rejected every offer. He loved to act, but on stage, not on camera. His passion was for Broadway. As with any growing young star, new horizons were inviting, and he finally decided to visit Hollywood for talks. He remained adamant about going there on his own terms. When MGM would not give him the agreements he requested, he walked out of the studio.

Almost immediately, United Artists agreed to what Monty wanted and he was cast alongside John Wayne and Walter Brennan in what became one of the most famous westerns of all time, Red River. Monty was excited to try a new type of role with both film acting and a western movie. Soon after Red River was completed, he was asked to play American G.I. Ralph Stevenson in The Search. This heartfelt war story gave Monty his Hollywood fame.

His sexuality was carefully guarded from fans but few in Hollywood did not know. He had one great love in hid life, a fellow actor and the pair were inseparable until he went into the Navy in 1942.

Becoming a Hollywood star, Monty formed many new friendships. One of his close friends was Mira Rostova, who coached Monty in almost every acting role he had. Perhaps the most famous friendship in Monty’s life was his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. The bond between them strengthened when the two starred together in A Place in the Sun. He would act with Taylor in two other films, Raintree County (1956) and Suddenly Last Summer (1959). He accepted both roles without even looking at a script. He just wanted to act with Taylor. After A Place in the Sun, Clift did not make a movie for two years.

Clift's life as he grew older was filled with drink and drugs. Insecure about his acting abilities, and seeing a Hollywood fixated on youth, he lived much of the last third of his life in a haze.

His return to the movie screen was in From Here to Eternity, which won eight Oscars, and Monty was nominated for Best Actor. He starred in the Hitchcock film I Confess and the movie Indiscretion of an American Housewife before took another leave from acting. Monty was not seen on a stage or screen for more than three years.

One night in May of 1957, Liz Taylor was having a dinner party and Monty accepted the invitation. He was one of the first to leave, afraid he would not be able to see his way home on the winding road Taylor lived on. Monty veered off the road and his car collided into a telephone pole. The accident left Monty with a broken jaw and nose, a crushed sinus cavity, two missing teeth, and severe facial lacerations which required plastic surgery. His remarkable recovery let him return home after only eight weeks in the hospital and soon after Raintree County was finished.

After the accident, Monty starred in seven movies, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Judgment at Nuremberg. He also co-starred in The Misfits, which was Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable's last movie. 1962 was the last time the world would see Monty on-screen. He was to co-star with Elizabeth Taylor in Reflections in a Golden Eye, but filming would not start until after her current project. So in the meantime, he was cast for The Defector, which would be his last role. After The Defector, while he was still waiting to begin work on Reflections, Clift suffered a heart attack and died in his home on July 23, 1966. At the age of 46, he was buried in Quaker Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.